Yazoo River Frozen Over
It may not be generally known that the Yazoo River was ever frozen over, but such is the fact. In a conversation with the genial clever, Capt. Marcey Johnson, a Sentinel man learned of a novel experience that gentleman had several years ago. It was the last day of the year 1876, that Capt. Johnson, in command of the steamer Tallahatchie, was making a down trip, in company with Capt. Ed Jackson, of this city. The day was cold, and a blinding snow soon began falling. Ice had been forming rapidly in the river, and when the steamer got about two miles below the mouth of the Tallahatchie in the Yazoo River, the snow and ice had gorged to such an extent that the boat could not proceed, and she was stopped, and was literally locked in the icy embrace of the Yazoo.
The officer made the best of the situation, and walked ashore on the ice, and went two miles to get a photographer to take a photo of the unusual scene. None, however, could be procured. The next day, Jan. 1, 1877, the steamer Sunflower, going up the river, with her bow weather boarded over to protect her, plowed her way through the ice with her wedge-shaped bow, and in that way cut the ice around the Tallahatchie and rescued her from her unwilling imprisonment.
Capt. Johnson says that was the only time in the history of the country, so far as he knows, that the Yazoo River was ever frozen over. The snow was two feet deep in Greenwood and one foot deep in Yazoo City.
Mr. H. S. Selliger, of this city, who was living at Greenwood at that time, saw the Tallahatchie while she was frozen up. -Yazoo Sentinel
From The Daily Flag, December 9, 1898
YAZOO, ORIGINAL RIVER INSTEAD OF SUWANEE
By FONNIE BLACK LADD
In “Mississippi Sun”
Last week as we drove beneath the lacy branches of shade trees along Riverside Drive in Greenwood, I happened to recall a fact that is unknown to the average Mississippian or person in the City of Greenwood-that being that along that driveway was the original locale and inspiration for the American folksong, “Way Down Upon The Suwannee River”.
I learned this while visiting “My Old Kentucky Home” at Old Bardstown, Kentucky, sometime ago. In this stately ole mansion is housed most of the Foster relics, as it is the place where the Pittsburg musician composed most of his famous melodies.
Stephen Collins Foster visited Greenwood on a leisurely trip through the Gulf States. While standing on the banks of the Yazoo and watching the stevedores load bales of Delta cotton, he thought of the beauty of the surrounding country and was prompted to write the melody and lyrics of his famous classic which began in the original manuscript as “Way Down Upon The Yazoo River, Far, Far Away”.
One autumn afternoon, Foster walked into a music publishing house in Pittsburg, Pa., offering his “Yazoo River” for sale. The publisher gave the young composer a hearing and was greatly pleased with the song. He told Foster that he would gladly publish his work if he would change the name of that “funny sounding river which would make everyone laugh, thus spoiling the beauty and sentiment of the song”.
The Pittsburg musician pleaded with the publisher to retain the old Indian name and pictured all the quaintness of a Mississippi delta river town, but the publisher insisted that another name be substituted before the sale could be transacted.
Very reluctantly, Foster searched the map of Southern states for a river that could be substituted in the place of “Yazoo”. Finally he located a very small stream in Florida, named “Sewanee”, and with much regret he crossed the name “Yazoo” and placed “Sewanee” there instead.
And just think what publicity the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce has missed since the old song was sung the world over.
Last Thursday night I attended the Municipal Opera in St. Louis, hearing the lovely vehicle, “New Moon”, which is a story of Natchez.
This made me think of an expression by the talented director of the National Broadcasting Company that “most of the inspiration for American music comes from the Southern States and Mississippi in particular”.
From The Greenwood Commonwealth, August 17, 1934
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